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On a cold day in January 2014, political strategist Ian James rode the elevator with two lawyers to the 11th floor of the Scripps Center to arrive at the office of a Cincinnati wheeler-dealer. The four men sat down, made some small talk. Then James took a deep breath and made his pitch for an Ohio revolution.

"I had not met Jimmy Gould before," James recalled, "so I just asked if he were interested in the legalization of marijuana for personal use or for medical use. I didn't know how this was going to go over. But no sooner had the words come out of my mouth, Jimmy said, 'I'm in.' "

The Delaware Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill 4-2 on Wednesday that would remove criminal penalties and potential jail time for simple adult marijuana possession and replace them with a civil fine similar to a traffic ticket. The measure will now be considered by the full Senate.

HB 39, introduced by Rep. Helene Keeley (D-Wilmington South) in the House and sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chair Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilimington East) in the Senate, would make possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by an adult a civil violation punishable by a $100 fine with no possibility of jail. Under current Delaware law, possession of up to one ounce of marijuana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a $575 fine and up to three months in jail.

The hype over hemp that erupted last year during Colorado’s first sensational flirtations with the marijuana look-alike is now starting to live up to expectations. A handful of growers in 2014 planted and harvested small-scale crops that attracted large-scale attention under hemp’s newly legal status.

This year, hype is being replaced with indicators of hemp’s industrial potential as seen in farm fields, factories, retail outlets and university laboratories. Hemp and its byproducts have a wide range of uses in nutrition, clothing, building materials, cosmetics and health.

The sector still is too tiny to rate even an asterisk in most conventional measures such as crop value and retail sales in Colorado.

Two Michigan groups hoping to legalize marijuana in Michigan can begin collecting signatures to put the question on the 2016 ballot after a state elections board signed off on the groups' petition language.

Michigan Public Radio’s Lansing reporter Jake Neher tells us that while the groups both want to legalize the possession, use, production, and distribution of marijuana for individuals over the age of 21, they disagree on a lot of the details.

Neher says the main difference is how each group wants to approach regulation.

BREWER, Maine — An organizer for a community education series intended to raise alarm over the pitfalls of marijuana legalization in Maine said turnout was low during their first public session because most people aren’t that concerned about marijuana.

In all, five people who were not affiliated with the Bangor Area Recovery Network attended the meeting Wednesday that featured a slideshow entitled “Marijuana in the New Millennium.”

Paul Lawrence believes he is the luckiest man alive despite having had a tumour the size of a football removed from his spine.

Mr Lawrence will be in Nimbin on Saturday to share his story of surviving two operations, over 20 hours each, to replace three vertebrae in his spine with other pieces of bone from his body.

But the main thrust of his story will be how he has used cannabis to treat pain, where pharmaceutical drugs had failed.

To achieve the remarkable feat of rebuilding his spine after removing his tumour, doctors used around 60 pieces of titanium to knit together his remaining spine, using five ribs, and later, a piece of his leg bone.

In the simplest terms, an advocate is a champion for a cause—a person or a group of people with the goal of influencing a larger population, be it on an economic scale, political scale or just to sway public opinion. Groups advocating for marijuana legalization seem to be making headway, though the current state of marijuana’s legality is anything but a sure thing.

RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA IN GENERAL

Q: What is the purpose of legalizing recreational marijuana?

A: As stated in Measure 91, the purpose of the Act is to:

• Eliminate the problems caused by the prohibition and uncontrolled manufacture, delivery, and possession of marijuana within this state;

• Protect the safety, welfare, health, and peace of the people of this state by prioritizing the state’s limited law enforcement resources in the most effective, consistent, and rational way;

• Permit persons licensed, coegulated, and taxed by this state to legally manufacture and sell marijuana to persons 21 years of age and older, subject to the provisions of this Act;

FILE - This April 18, 2014 file photo shows edible marijuana products on display at a medical marijuana dispensary in Denver. Colorado's marijuana experiment is under threat by the very popularity of eating it instead of smoking it, so the pot industry is joining health officials and state regulators in studying the problem of consumers eating too much too quickly. They plan to meet Wednesday, April 30, 2014, at Children's Hospital Colorado to discuss the potency and serving size of pot edibles. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File) Related Coverage

What if Big Marijuana behaves like Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco?

With marijuana legalization now voter-approved in four states, a new major industry is beginning to form around selling legal pot for profit. But as more states consider whether to take on legalization, the rising industry has become the main target for opponents of legal pot.

"If we're not careful, the marijuana industry could quickly become the next Big Tobacco," warns the website for Grass Is Not Greener, a campaign launched by the anti-legalization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM).